Smoke, fumes, and noxious gasses can be very dangerous to occupants during a building fire. It is well known that many fire-related deaths are the result of smoke inhalation. During a fire, or an event where smoke or other undesirable gases may be present, fumes are likely to travel very quickly through paths that offer little resistance. Paths such as elevator shafts, stairwells, atriums, or other open passageways between multiple floors of a building are often well drafted and provide an excellent avenue by which smoke and other undesirable gases can travel rapidly to otherwise unaffected areas of a building. To prevent such a migration of undesirable gases, many devices and assemblies have been designed to limit the vapor and/or fire dispersal by cutting off possible paths or openings.
Examples of such devices are smoke screen assemblies disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,510, entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RAPIDLY AND RELIABLY SEALING OFF CERTAIN OPENINGS IN RESPONSE TO SMOKE, NOXIOUS FUMES OR CONTAMINATED AIR, issued Jan. 24, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,594, entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RAPIDLY AND RELIABLY SEALING OFF CERTAIN EXIT AND ENTRANCE WAYS IN RESPONSE TO SMOKE OR FIRE, issued Mar. 23, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,668, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEALING OPENINGS IN RESPONSE TO SMOKE, NOXIOUS FUMES, OR CONTAMINATED AIR USING A ROLL-DOWN BARRIER, issued Feb. 21, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,742, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEALING OPENINGS IN RESPONSE TO SMOKE, NOXIOUS FUMES, OR CONTAMINATED AIR USING A ROLL-DOWN BARRIER, issued Apr. 18, 2006; U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0226103, entitled CLOSING MEMBER CONTROL SYSTEMS, INCLUDING DOOR CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR BARRIER HOUSINGS, AND ASSOCIATED METHODS, filed Oct. 12, 2006; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/164,876, entitled BARRIER SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS, INCLUDING VAPOR AND/OR BARRIER SYSTEMS WITH MANUAL EGRESS, filed Mar. 30, 2009, U.S. Pat. No. 8,113,266, entitled BARRIER SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS, INCLUDING VAPOR AND/OR FIRE BARRIER SYSTEMS, issued Feb. 14, 2012, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0243175, entitled BARRIER SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS, INCLUDING VAPOR AND/OR FIRE BARRIER SYSTEMS WITH MANUAL EGRESS, filed Mar. 30, 2010, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0088918, entitled FIRE-RATED MULTIFABRIC WITH INTUMESCENT LAYER, filed Oct. 19, 2010; each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.